A 17-year-old girl, allegedly being forced into prostitution by her mother, was rescued in Bharatpur on Saturday. The state’s anti-human trafficking unit (AHTU), along with the district child welfare committee (CWC) members, rescued the 17-year-old girl from a rented room in Pushp Vatika Colony of the city.
CWC chairman Saroj Lohiya said that a shopkeeper, Bipul Sharma, informed the panel about the victim’s predicament. Sharma had overheard two women’s discussion at his shop and inferred the minor girl was kept in a house for prostitution.

After getting the information, the CWC members, along with the AHTU team, raided the house and rescued the girl.

“AHTU recorded her statement. We decided to send her to child shelter home after she said she did not want to stay with her mother,” said Lohiya.

She told the AHTU officials that her mother used to beat up her and force into prostitution, said Lohiya, adding that a year ago her mother had sold her to some people in Delhi, but she had managed to escape.

The girl’s father lives at Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, while the mother lives in Bharatpur with the victim, her eight-year-old sister and 11-year-old brother in a rented room. Her parents are in the divorce process.

She said her mother was involved in prostitution and her customers were forcing her to have physical relations with them. However, the mother denied the victim’s allegations. She said she wanted to marry off the victim, as she had run away from home several times in the past.